Updated on July 23, 2024
Cricut Printable Sticker Paper vs. Printable Vinyl. Comparing the new printable materials released by Cricut – printable sticker paper, waterproof sticker sets, and printable vinyl.
Cricut has recently released all NEW sticker paper, printable vinyl, and printable iron-on. Today, I am going to share with you all about the new sticker paper and vinyl.
The new sticker paper is amazing! It is thinner, so it has no problem feeding through the printer. And there are so many fun new varieties to choose from.
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How to Make Stickers With Cricut
I don’t know if you have tried the old Cricut sticker paper in the past, but I never had luck with it feeding through my printer.
And sticker paper can get expensive if you are wasting a lot of sheets. No one likes to waste materials and money on projects that don’t turn out.
Not anymore!
First I will go over all about the new sticker papers, plus general instructions for making stickers. Then, I will show some examples of specific projects made with the new sticker paper and printable vinyl so you can compare them.
Types of Printable Sticker Papers to Use with Cricut
With the new release, there are now SO many options for creating stickers! I have always had the best luck using Cricut materials with my Cricut machines. The material settings are already tested, so it makes it easy to get great results right from the start.
Regular Sticker Paper: It is great for making traditional stickers. These are stickers you will use in notebooks and planners. This type of sticker paper cannot get wet.
Printable sticker paper is thicker and more stiff than printable vinyl.
Printable Vinyl: It can be used to make laptop or phone decals, and it is my go to material for making printable labels. It is more durable than the regular sticker paper. So, I use it in places I need the sticker to last longer but don’t necessarily need it to be waterproof.
Printable vinyl is thinner and more flexible than regular sticker paper.
Waterproof Sticker Paper: Have you ever wanted to make stickers for your water bottles, a decal for your car, or outdoor labels? This is the material you need.
Note: You can use any kind of sticker paper with your Cricut, but you will need to play around with the settings to get the best result. I wasted a lot of sticker paper trying to achieve a kiss cut with another brand of sticker paper that wasn’t Cricut.
What Can I Make?
- Stickers – planners, notebooks, and paper
- Decals – water bottles, car bumper stickers
- Labels – indoor and outdoor
What is Print then Cut?
Print then Cut allows you to print images you create in Cricut Design Space on your home printer, and then place the printed design onto a cutting mat to load into the Cricut machine to cut out.
Which Machines are Print then Cut Compatible?
- Cricut Explore Machines*
- Cricut Maker Machines
- Cricut Venture
- Cricut Joy Xtra
- The original Cricut Joy machine is NOT Print then Cut compatible
*Cricut Explore Air 2 and older machines can Print then Cut on non-reflective white materials only. Any of the waterproof sticker papers plus the gold and silver printable vinyl cannot be cut on the older Cricut Explore machines but can be cut on the Cricut Explore 3.
What Size Can I Print Then Cut?
Cricut recently increased the print sizes you can use with the various machines that can Print Then Cut.
Material Size
- A4: 8.3″ x 11.7″
- Letter: 8.5″ x 11″
- Legal: 8.5″ x 14″
- Tabloid: 9.26″ x 14.32″
- A3: 9.96″ x 14.06″
How Do I Change the Print Size for my Cricut designs?
You can change the different paper sizes in Settings. Select Settings > Load Type > Print then Cut Page Size. From here you can change the options.
Many home printers can print legal-size paper, but you will need a printer that can print larger sizes to print in tabloid or A3 size.
The Cricut Venture has even more options for Print then Cut sizes, but again you need a printer available that can print those larger sizes.
Print then Cut Print Area
Note: The maximum print area for Cricut Print Then Cut is actually a bit smaller than the paper size. I have not found official sizes listed by Cricut, but I did some testing, and below is what I found.
- A4: 6.53″ x 9.21″
- Letter: 6.76″ x 8.75″
- Legal: 6.76″ x 11.14″
- Tabloid: 11″ x 17″
- A3: 9.96″ x 14.06″
These numbers are not exact but should give you a good starting place.
Test Print then Cut Settings First
If you have never used Print then Cut before, I always recommend doing a test Print Then Cut design with plain printer paper. This way you can make sure your printer is printing correctly and that your machine is calibrated before wasting any of your more expensive sticker paper.
Print using the Use System Dialog setting. Choose the Best quality paper setting for your printer.
Choose Copy Paper from the drop-down menu. Place the copy paper onto a Light Blue mat and load it into the Cricut.
If everything prints okay, you are good to go. If not, you may need to adjust your printer settings or calibrate your machine.
Make Stickers with Cricut
Now that we have talked about what you will need to make stickers and some of the general questions about making stickers, let’s get started! Making stickers with Cricut requires a few steps.
- Create a design
- Print the images
- Load onto Cricut to cut
Supplies Needed to Make Stickers
How to Make a Printable Design for Stickers
Cricut Design Space has a ton of ready-made designs you can make into stickers with a Cricut Access subscription. There is even a section on ready-made sticker sheets you can use. You can also upload your own designs.
How Do I Make Any Image into a Print then Cut Design?
You can filter search images by Print then Cut to quickly pull up lots of ready to make designs. But sometimes you find the perfect design that is made for cutting and not printing.
It is easy to create a sticker from these designs! First, add the cut design to the canvas. I like to add an offset to my design to create a small border around it when making stickers.
Select both the Offset and cut design and then click Flatten. Now your design is ready to Print then Cut!
Once you have your design ready to go click Make It.
Next, you will see the mat preview screen. If you don’t Attach all your images before making your project, you will see whether or not your designs will all print on one page.
If they don’t you can go back and adjust the sizes. You can also create a colored rectangle around your sticker images to make sure you stay within the printing sizes listed above, and hide this layer when you’re ready to print.
The software will not allow you to click Make It if your design is too big. An easy way to fix this is to use the Auto-Resize feature. You will see a warning icon in the layers panel. Click the red and white exclamation point, then click Auto-Resize Image.
Click Continue on the mat preview page.
Printing
Click Send to Printer.
Under Print Setup select your printer. I turn off the bleed unless I did not create an offset around my images. The bleed is a small border around each image that allows for more precise cutting.
Toggle Use System Dialog to on. This allows you to adjust your printer settings to Best quality.
Click Print. Allow the paper or vinyl to dry thoroughly before handling.
Helpful Tip: When printing, make sure you load the sticker paper into your printer correctly. Every printer is different, but you will see on the sticker paper, the front is plain and the back has green printing on the backside.
Cutting
From the dropdown menu choose the material you are using. I have listed a few of the options below.
- Printable Sticker Paper, White
- Printable Waterproof Sticker Set
- Printable Vinyl
Each of the above settings will kiss cut the stickers. This means it will cut the sticker outline, but will not cut through to the liner.
Place your printable on a blue LightGrip cutting mat. Load the mat into the Cricut machine and click Go.
Once your stickers are cut out, flip your mat over and peel the mat away from the sticker paper. Trim your off the registration marks with a paper trimmer.
Printable Sticker Paper:
Printable Vinyl Stickers:
Make Waterproof Stickers or Decals with Your Cricut
The waterproof sticker sets are both waterproof and UV-protective.
All four types are UV resistant, even the transparent holographic and the clear paper. However, you may see some fading from the sun depending on your printer ink. If you are using the stickers outside, it is recommended to use UV-resistant ink.
The waterproof sticker sets include both the printable vinyl and laminating sheet. The printable vinyl has green printing on the back, and the laminating sheet has a QR code sticker and a slit on the back.
The great thing about Cricut laminate is that you don’t have to worry about covering up the sensor marks. The Cricut can easily read them because it was designed to work flawlessly with your Cricut machine.
When working with other types of laminate, I cut the laminate to fit inside the sensor marks so the Cricut can still read them.
Create and Print a Design
Follow the general steps above to create and print a sticker sheet. This process is the same for all of the different materials.
How to Apply the Laminate Sheet
Apply the laminate onto the printed sheet. Start by peeling off the strip of liner on the laminate at the top just above the QR code.
Line up the laminate with your printed vinyl and sheet. Smooth it down.
Remove the rest of the laminate liner, by carefully peeling it back using a scraper to smooth it as you go.
Then, use a brayer tool to make sure the laminate is securely placed over the entire sticker sheet.
Cut Waterproof Stickers
From the drop-down menu choose one of the Printable Waterproof Sticker Set options, depending on the one you are choosing.
Place your printable on a blue LightGrip cutting mat. Load the mat into the Cricut machine and click Go.
Waterproof Sticker Care: Once you place your sticker on your item, handwash to clean. Washing in the dishwasher is NOT recommended. The high heat and detergent can cause your sticker to not last as long.
I created a fun unicorns and rainbows design that I printed on all four types of waterproof paper so you can compare the results.
The holographic stickers are hard to photograph, but they are so sparkly and shimmery in person!
This post was a basic overview of how to create stickers, but focusing more on the different types of materials. For more detailed instructions on creating stickers, read this post: How to Make Stickers and Decals with Cricut.
Download the Free Sticker Sheets
Click on any of the links below to be taken to the Cricut Design Space files for the sticker sheets I created for this post. Plus, follow me on Design Space for even more project ideas!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use either an inkjet or a laser printer to print my designs?
No. You can only use an inkjet printer. If you try to use a laser printer, it may damage the materials or the printer.
How can I tell if I have the old sticker paper/vinyl or the new ones?
The old sticker paper has gray printing and the old logo, and the new paper has green printing and the new Cricut logo on the backside.
Do I need to use transfer tape with sticker paper or printable vinyl?
No. And you will actually ruin your materials if you try to apply transfer tape to the design.
Is the adhesive permanent or reusable?
The adhesive on all the sticker papers and printable vinyl is permanent.
My stickers are being cut out incorrectly. What do I do?
Usually, this means you are using the wrong material setting or you may need to calibrate your machine.
- Calibrate: To calibrate your machine, click on Settings > Machines > Machine Calibration > Select Cricut Device > Start.
What are the best printer settings to print my designs?
When printing your design, click Send to Printer. Toggle Use System Dialog to On. Then click, Print. Then, the printer box will open up. Set your printer preferences to Best. This option may appear as best, photo paper, or high quality, depending on your printer.
You can also choose the specialty paper type that best matches the matte sticker paper.
Make sure to allow your page to dry thoroughly before applying laminate or cutting. The best quality uses more ink and often takes longer to dry.
Kiss Cut vs Die Cut
Kiss cut means that the image will be cut out, but the Cricut will not cut through the liner. Die cut is when your sticker and liner are cut completely out together.
If you want to cut completely through the liner, you can! WITHOUT unloading your mat, click Go on your machine again. The important thing here is to NOT unload your mat to ensure the Cricut cuts the lines a second time precisely and on the same path as the first. You may need to repeat this process.
You can also adjust the pressure settings and cut times under material settings.
What is the difference between printable vinyl and printable iron-on?
Printable vinyl works like a sticker, while printable iron-on is meant to be heat transferred to your material using an iron, Cricut EasyPress, or heat press.
Printable vinyl is meant to be used on smooth surfaces like glass, ceramic, plastic, laptops, paper, etc. While printable iron-on is primarily used on fabric.
Is Printable Vinyl Waterproof?
Most printable vinyl is water resistant, but not waterproof. It holds up to use better than regular sticker paper.
To make your items waterproof, you need to either use the printable waterproof sticker set, or a separate laminate over the printable vinyl.
What colors print best on the metallic printable vinyl?
When using metallic printable vinyl, lighter colors don’t always show up well on the metallic effect. When using the metallics, choose designs with bright and bold colors for better results.
Below you can see how the different color stickers show up on the gold printable vinyl. The lighter images are harder to see and are not as vibrant.
The four different types of Cricut Printable Vinyl are shown below.
What other questions do you have about creating stickers? Leave them in the comments.
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You may also like:
- Cricut Design Space Basics
- How to Make Stickers and Decals with Cricut
- How to Create Planner Stickers with Your Cricut
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